Incapacity benefit to ESA

Hello everyone

I have received "the letter" today to tell me that my form to claim ESA will be on its way after I have received the phone call...

I wondered if you could help with some advice though please.

I have claimed IB for 10 years. I am unable to work due to various health conditions, but the main one is that I am unable to eat or swallow. I assume that means that I will be put into the support group.

However, I am alarmed by this in one of the guides on this site...
"Contribution-based ESA
To get contribution-based ESA you have to have paid enough national insurance
contributions or be a young person. The rules about contributions are very similar to
the rules for incapacity benefit. However, the government have now announced
plans to time limit claims contribution-based ESA to one year from April 2012. This
will be backdated so that claimants who have already received 12 months or more of
contribution-based ESA will lose their entitlement immediately."

I have not paid contributions while I have been out of work. However, I assume that my contributions are being paid on my behalf.
Will I be able to claim, and does this 12mth period still apply?

If they take the money off me, my wife would be classed as earning, so I doubt very much we would be eligible for the income based ESA.

I suppose what I really want to know is, are they going to take the money off me after 12 mths?

Thank you for any help that you can offer.

Jamie Cooper wrote: Hello everyone

I have received "the letter" today to tell me that my form to claim ESA will be on its way after I have received the phone call...

I wondered if you could help with some advice though please.

I have claimed IB for 10 years. I am unable to work due to various health conditions, but the main one is that I am unable to eat or swallow. I assume that means that I will be put into the support group.

However, I am alarmed by this in one of the guides on this site...
"Contribution-based ESA
To get contribution-based ESA you have to have paid enough national insurance
contributions or be a young person. The rules about contributions are very similar to
the rules for incapacity benefit. However, the government have now announced
plans to time limit claims contribution-based ESA to one year from April 2012. This
will be backdated so that claimants who have already received 12 months or more of
contribution-based ESA will lose their entitlement immediately."

I have not paid contributions while I have been out of work. However, I assume that my contributions are being paid on my behalf.
Will I be able to claim, and does this 12mth period still apply?

If they take the money off me, my wife would be classed as earning, so I doubt very much we would be eligible for the income based ESA.

I suppose what I really want to know is, are they going to take the money off me after 12 mths?

Thank you for any help that you can offer.

Hi,

You must have had the requisite amount of NI Contribution to be entitled to IB when you first claimed it.

IB had no time limitation as to how long you could receive payment, and you would have received continuing NI Credits whilst in receipt of it.

Therefore you will be entitled to CB ESA if successfully transferred to ESA.

See : What will I be transferred to? , from our : IB, IS, SDA, Migration to ESA FAQ’s , which you may find informative.

If you are placed into The WRAG, in receipt of CB ESA only, (no IR ESA top-up) you will only be entitled to 365 days of payment, before it ceases.

If you are placed into The SG, there is no 365 day limit to payment, for as long as you remain in The SG.

If any part of your ESA is IR ESA there is no 365 day limit, whether in WRAG or SG

See : 12 Month Limit for ESA(CB)

You should then be assessed to see whether you can pass the means test, that may entitle you to IR ESA.

This will take into account your capital, assets and savings, as well as any household income that you may have.

See :

Asset rule for ESA(IR)

&

24 hour work rule for ESA(IR)

From our : ESA FAQ’s

Once you have had "the phonecall" which is purely a courtesy call, you should receive the ESA50 through the post.

When it arrives, if it is the "new" version that corresponds with The PDF Version that can be downloaded from the link on this page :

Using The PDF Version Of The ESA50 Questionnaire

You can use the PDF version if you choose to, and should refer to the correct ESA Claims Guides as listed here :

ESA Claims Guides

Please repost to this topic, if you have any further queries.

If your forum username is also your real name, you may wish to change it, as the forum can be read by the general public.

See : My full name is showing, how can I stop it?

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